Why Do I Need Church?
Taking Church Membership Seriously - Part 3
This is the final installment in a three-part look at taking church membership seriously.
Click here to read Part 1 - Do I Have to Go to Church to Be a Christian?
Click here to read Part 2 - Is Church Membership Biblical?
Today, we will consider why you and I need to be involved in a local gathering of Jesus followers. I want to suggest three reasons we need church and what benefits we derive from participating in a local church.
Reason 1 - To Fulfill Your Purpose
Have you ever noticed the cover of a Hamburger Helper box? The logo for Hamburger Helper is the “Helping Hand®.” The Helping Hand is a bit creepy in several ways. It only has 4 fingers; it has a “face,” and – most creepy of all – it is a detached talking hand. Creepy indeed.
So, what does this have to do with church membership? Aside from the fact that many dishes of Hamburger Helper have been served at church potlucks.
In 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, Paul employs he image of the human body to convey the connectedness of believers in a local church. Each body part is important and has a specific function. No body part is more important than another. Every individual body part depends on the other body parts to carry out its function.
A dismembered hand rots apart from being attached to the rest of the body. And the rest of the body suffers from the loss of the dismembered hand.
Sadly, today’s culture conditions us to think “me-first.” “What is in it for me and how does this benefit me?” But the body of Christ functions best when the members are serving each other and working together for the common mission. And each individual member most spiritually healthy when fulfilling his or her designed role in the whole body.
Reason 2 – Necessary Accountability
Left to our own devices, most of us drift into mediocrity and eventually stall in complacency and apathy. We resist being held accountable. We don’t like being told what to or corrected when we are on a wrong path. But accountability is good and sorely needed. Consider how the writer of Hebrews challenged his readers about the need for accountability.
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. – Hebrews 10:24-25
“Stir up.” The word has both positive and negative applications. On one hand it refers to encouraging and motivating someone to action. On the other hand, it refers to challenging and correcting someone engaged in wrong behavior. We need both at times.
Many people shun the local church to avoid having others challenge them in either way. They don’t want to be neither motivated nor challenged to anything they don’t already want to do. Proverbs teaches us that iron sharpens iron and good friends challenge each other (Proverbs 27:17).
Reason 3 – Specialized Discipleship
One of the reasons God called believers together into churches is provide individualized spiritual guidance. Consider the regular practice of the first New Testament believers to gather as a body.
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. – Acts 2:42
Notice the presence of the definite article “the” in front of each listed activity. I bolded them in the verse above. They devoted themselves to specific teaching, that of the Apostles. God had given the apostles the responsibility of teaching truth to these early believers.
You can stay at home and watch some good teaching online or on TV. Disclaimer: there’s a lot of bad teaching out there too. That’s another reason you need a God-given spiritual shepherd to feed you truth and protect you from the error of false teaching. Giving the online/TV preacher the benefit of the doubt, at best he is feeding what God gave him for the flock under his care. Not you. God has given YOUR pastor responsibility for feeding you what you need.
The fellowship. Not just getting together and eating and having a good time. Fellowship involves the sharing of life – both good times and bad, laughter and tears. The definite article points to the truth that we need to “do life” with a specific group of people for our mutual benefit.
The breaking of bread. This refers to Communion, or The Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is both a reminder of our vertical union with Christ as well as our horizontal union with each other. It is a reminder of the truth of the Gospel and what it means to each of us in everyday life, not just our initial salvation (justification), but also our growth in faith (sanctification).
The prayers. Plural prayers. Not just saying a prayer but prevailing in prayer over our needs and needs of others. It is the privilege of approaching God regularly on behalf of the other believers with whom we have bonded as a spiritual family.
Capping It Off
I hope you have seen that church membership is not only Biblical it is also God-ordained and, therefore, important.
If you are not yet a member of a local congregation, I encourage you to find one. Find a church that is Bible centered and Gospel focused.
If you are a member of a church but casual in your involvement, I challenge you to pray and ask God to show you how He wants you to be involved.
Finally, if you are an active and involved member of a local church, thank you. Let Christ continue to grow you and use you for His Kingdom.
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